


The Spirit of Mount Akina

by bellygunnr



Category: Initial D
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Keisuke can see ghosts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-17
Updated: 2019-11-28
Packaged: 2020-10-20 05:49:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20670359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bellygunnr/pseuds/bellygunnr
Summary: Years ago, a horrible crash occurred on Akina's downhill, resulting in the loss of one Takumi Fujiwara. His presence still haunts the pass and Keisuke is getting the full brunt of the phenomena, with only the locals believing him.Worse? Takumi's still just a kid.





	1. Chapter 1

"...Well, who knows if the Eight-Six you saw was real or fake?" Iketani says mysteriously. He doesn't look the Takahashi in the eye as he continues cleaning his windshield, methodically clearing any blemishes. Itsuki watches the tank fill up with high octane on the opposite side of the car.

Keisuke grimaces. "Well, I figured the locals might know, ya see? Seems like the kinda thing two gas station racers might know-- yeah, I see that S13 over there." He jerks his thumb toward the green car, the team sticker conspicuous in the light.

"Tch. That's the thing, man-- sometimes it's real, other times, it's not. It's too long of a story to tell while you're just filling up gas."

Oh, was it now? Keisuke rolls his eyes but he knows his interest is piqued. A car that was real and fake at the same time...? How could that be?

"Okay, then I'll park, and you get to tell me every last detail," Keisuke decided loudly. He grins as the other man makes a contemptuous look and just guides Keisuke on.

  
"It happened... less than three years ago, I believe. Akina's hard to get to if you go over the edge, you know, and this kid did just that. Hit the guard rail, only God knows what speed, and flipped... It was nasty business," Iketani says, shaking his head. "My boss knows more. Knows the kid's dad."

Keisuke leaned against his car, arms folded tightly. "A kid was driving, you said?"

That... didn't seem right. The Eight-Six, real or not, had driven with the skill of a seasoned driver, someone who knew Akina like they were part of the mountain. A kid wouldn't have that kind of know-how or prowess at all.

"Yeah, barely out of middle school--" Iketani was about to continue when he was interrupted, eyes widening with surprise.

"His name was Takumi Fujiwara. What day did you see the Eight-Six?"

Keisuke could only assume this new guy was Iketani's boss. He scowled, trying to recall. "Guess it was... Thursday night? I've seen it more than once, though. Why?"

"Because his father drives the same Eight-Six Wednesdays and Fridays. You saw... Takumi," the older man said with a frown. "I see him, too. Iketani here thinks he's just an old legend but..."

"I do not!" Iketani said crossly. "I've seen'em before too!"

Keisuke shakes his head in confusion. "Ya mean the ghost only appears a few times a week?"

The boss shakes his head. "I never said that. I just don't drive on the days his father is on the mountain."

Ryosuke's room is always meticulously neat, consumed only by the man's overwhelming presence. Keisuke enters only after knocking quietly and pad-footing his way in, utterly silent, even as he rattles with the news he discovered. It's an effort to stay silent until Ryosuke looks up from his laptop.

"The Eight-Six is dead and alive!" Keisuke bursts. "Sometimes it's real, sometimes it ain't!"

"And how can that be?" Ryosuke says dryly, a brow raised. "It's a car, Keisuke..."

"Apparently, this kid went over on the mountain and has been haunting the pass ever since," Keisuke explains. "But sometimes his dad drives the same car."

"Sounds plausible," is all Ryosuke says, and Keisuke knows he didn't convince him.

Keisuke stares in bemusement before shaking his head. He leaves his brother's room with a new resolve-- to find and talk to that kid's father.

First, he just needs to rest...

It happens unexpectedly-- another late night run on Akina and suddenly the FD3S gives out from under him, engine coughing and sputtering until he guides it off the road and shuts it off. The wind howls ominously around him, consuming the silence. A chill seeps through the FD's bones and into Keisuke's.

Through the wind, he hears the drone of a speeding car. He looks out the window uncertainly, feeling more fear than confused rage at the unexpected events. He watches the headlights turn into a car, wispy at the edges, difficult to look at directly, stomach sinking when the car skids to a halt with an unnatural quickness.

It's the Eight-Six.

And it isn't the real deal, he knows. What does it want with him?

His knuckles turn white over the FD's stick and steering wheel, heart rate spiking. The driver's side door of the Eight-Six is opening, and from it, a small figure is peeking out, eventually trotting over to Keisuke's car.

_It really is just a kid_, he thinks dimly. _Looks like a punk._

"I didn't think it would work!" The kid says excitedly. His voice is crystal clear through Keisuke's windows. "It never works with my father but I managed to snag you!"

Keisuke... rolls down the window. Out of habit.

"What do ya mean, snag me?"

"Well, I just thought really hard, and your car stopped!" The kid explains, eager. "Good thing, too... I was getting tired of driving that old junker."

The old junker... that he threw around like a rally car.

"How long you been drivin', kid?" Keisuke asks tentatively. He isn't sure what to do here. Hell, his arms are shaking. Excited as this kid was, there was something awfully unsettling about the whole situation...

"Oh, well, I don't know... What's your name?"

He didn't know? Or maybe, he didn't remember?

"Uh... Keisuke. Keisuke Takahashi," he admits softly. "What's yours?"

"Takumi Fujiwara," the kid chirps. "Do you know how to get out of here?"

Keisuke's heart stops. Hold on, get out of here? Akina wasn't a confusing pass-- lots of turns and twists, sure, but it was up one way and down the same way. Had this kid-- Takumi Fujiwara-- been racing back and forth, just trying to get back home?

_How awful..._

"Uh, well, guess I can guide you off the mountain, if you want," Keisuke says, voice trembling. "Good with you?"

"Yeah, that'd be great, Keisuke!"

Good God...


	2. FD or FC?

The tofu shop was well maintained, if a little sore for customers. Keisuke makes sure to order a hefty of food amount before asking, as tactfully as he could, about the mystery of Akina. The man behind the counter made a low sound.

"It's my fault, that's all," the old man sighs. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Uh, well... I just feel it's important that we do," Keisuke pushes on. "'Cause uh, well..."

He isn't sure how to explain it. The man's dead son had taken an interest in him and kind of was able to stop his car, so his passing fascination became vested and emotional. The least he could do was learn more-- directly from the source.

"Well, what?" The man says. He's packaging Keisuke's orders meticulously, wrinkles growing deeper by the second.

"Last night. This morning, that Eight-Six stopped my engine whole-sale," Keisuke explains.

"And asked to take you off Akina, then disappeared," the man finished. "I know. Look, kid, it's not that big of a deal..."

The packaged tofu is offered to Keisuke, the amount demanded. Coins are scattered across the counter.

"Just stop ridin' Akina," the man says gruffly. "Every time he can't get off, he gets angrier."

"Isn't that your son?" Keisuke finally asks.

"He was my son. A ghost ain't my son, but I acknowledge that there's a ghost."

  
Ryosuke blocks Keisuke from the door later that week.

"Allow me to ride with you, to see this ghost, Keisuke," he says, and his eyes are intent, voice low.

Ryosuke has ideas. He never likes it when his brother has ideas that aren't involved with racing. And he knows better than to say 'no.'

"Well, okay. FC or FD?" Keisuke asks, stuffing his hands in his pockets. He has no idea how the kid would react to an FC.

Or a new person in the car...

"FD, of course."

They leave shortly thereafter.

  
His brother peppers him with questions intermittently, mostly about the accident, the man he visited. Keisuke tries to recollect the tales to the best of his abilities.

"Uh, well, the kid did tofu deliveries for his father in middle, early high school. Went over the edge when it was bad conditions and..."

Keisuke mimics the sound of a car wrecking with his mouth.

His brother listens intently, silently.

"His dad got in some legal trouble afterward, I think, but he's still running that tofu shop. He has a weird energy about him, though, like he just doesn't care about anything... That's what the tofu tasted like, too," he adds as an afterthought.

The highway is devoid of other late-night travelers. Keisuke discreetly urges his FD forward, the needle on the speedometer climbing up. Akina looms in the pitch horizon.

"I see. And this... ghost, you've met it?" Ryosuke asks.

"Yeah, yeah... He stopped my engine and everything, asked me if I knew the way off Akina," he repeats. He waits for his brother to scold him for speeding.

It doesn't come.

"He really is just a kid," he sighs. "Hard to see someone so small come out of the driver's side of a car like that, you know?"

"I suppose it would be," Ryosuke says mildly.

"What got you so interested, anyway, brother?" Keisuke asks suddenly. He looks over at him curiously, frowning.

"I merely want to see what has you so fascinated. Challenge my beliefs tonight, Keisuke."

Keisuke isn't sure that that's how any of this works, but at least his brother's willing to bite.

  
The drive through the Akina touge is relatively uneventful aside from Keisuke's difficulty concentrating. His brother's calculating, expectant yet blank inspection of his driving technique is an otherworldly pressure and he nearly screams when the Eight-Six finally appears in his rear-view mirror. The beams of its headlights are long and ragged.

"Is that our ghost, Keisuke?" Ryosuke asks casually.

The Eight-Six howls. It's faster than usual, Keisuke thinks blandly, and more aggressive. He struggles to compete with the other car's movements as they hit another corner. He can feel his FD quaking through the steering wheel--

Looks like Keisuke isn't the only one unnerved, then.

_Hang in there, FD..._

They both shoot out of the corner at unprecedented speeds. Keisuke's tires screech as he slides out from a drift into a dedicated line-- but once again, the world falls silent, his engine sputtering.

Ryosuke makes a noise beside him-- disbelief?

It's hard to imagine him being caught by anything...

Instead of pulling over, Keisuke lets his car ride to a full stop, the Eight-Six following suit. But the procession is different this time, he knows. His bones ache with a deep cold.

"I wanted to get off Akina, but I must have gotten lost again," the kid's voice chimes. He appears suddenly, sitting cross-legged atop the FD's hood.

"Fujiwara," Keisuke breathes. "Sorry about that."

What else is he supposed to say, but sorry? Besides, Akina's straight forward-- you don't just get lost on this mountain.

"Who's this with you, Keeeisuke?" Takumi sings, gesturing to his brother.

"My name is Ryosuke Takahashi," his brother cuts in smoothly. His eyes are wide with-- well, Keisuke isn't sure. "What do you want with my brother?"

Takumi blinks, then smiles.

"I don't know, but I like him. I like his car. It looks cool."


	3. Chapter 3

Takumi liked his car, Keisuke thinks. It doesn't spark the usual smug joy he normally experiences when faced with compliments. It makes him feel leery and on edge. Maybe even a little sad. It was difficult to discern everything he was feeling. This was a complicated situation. His shoulders slump as Ryosuke picks up the conversation with the ghost boy.

"It's a Mazda RX-7," Ryosuke supplies. "An FD3S. I have an FC3S, the previous model. Would you like me to bring it by sometime?"

The young boy's eyes go wide. Pale hands press against the windshield, the wrinkles in his palms leaving bright afterimages in Keisuke's retinas. 

"I'd love that! Can you both come? What color is it? Is it bright yellow like this one?"

"No, it's white, like yours. Is that an issue?"

Takumi stills, his enthusiasm fading fast. He eyes Ryosuke balefully, then smiles, shaking his head.

"I think I can handle a white car," he says, laughing. The sound is reminiscent of distant church bells.

Keisuke sinks further down behind the steering wheel as the two begin to chatter. He tries to think of the last time he saw a ghost. It had been when he was real small, five or six at the very least. He had told no one. The only reason he had mentioned Takumi was because of his wounded pride. At least his hunch had been correct this time, but it didn't make him feel any better.

By the time he comes to, the horizon is washed with the first tinges of the sun. Keisuke gestures at the deep reds and purples, enough to distract his brother and the ghost.

"The break of dawn, already?" Ryosuke says. "Shame. When shall we see you again, Fujiwara?"

"Whenever you want," Takumi says. "But it better be with the white car! And the yellow one, too!"

"We'll make sure of it," Keisuke chuckles, uneasy. "Don't sweat it, kid."

* * *

Takumi crawls back inside his Trueno. The seat is too big for him and the steering wheel-- it's heavy. It's hard to move, and he doesn't move it, not this time. He simply sits high in the driver's seat and watches as the yellow car-- what had the shadowy man called it, an RX something?-- whirls to life and disappears around the bend. In the dark night, the car had been so bright as to mimic the sun. He wonders if the white car would look like the moon.

_But I don't need the moon_, Takumi thinks bitterly. _The moon is with me already. It's the sun I want._

Already, his grip on this realm was fading, weakened by the daylight. His Trueno shuddered violently in his hands before disintegrating.

As its boxy body faded to dust, so did Takumi. 

* * *

Keisuke's exhausted, if he was going to be honest with himself. Despite not participating, the conversation had been exhausting. The cold had been exhausting. He steals a sidelong glance at his brother, whose face was pulled taut but lively all the same.

"What do you think, brother?" Keisuke asks.

"He certainly is a kid," Ryosuke replies simply. "And he certainly is dead."

"That's the most eloquent, least insightful thing I've ever heard you say," Keisuke says. He shakes his head. The FD jerks forward as his foot twitches on the accelerator, as if eager to get home. But this was no time for speeding-- they were on highways in broad daylight. What a pain.

The rest of the drive goes on in silence, with both brothers mulling over separate things. Keisuke thinks of the kid and the mountain and the power, while Ryosuke thinks of the FC and the 86 and the research. There would be much to be had from the spirit of Akina.

**Author's Note:**

> Help me tag this, y'all? Also, I dunno if I'll write anymore...


End file.
